3 . In ancient times, people didn’t have smartphones or computers to use for fun. Still, they had interesting games to play.

Kites

Kites have a very long history. People first used kites to send messages. In the Song Dynasty, kites got very popular with people. Now, Beijing, Tianjin, Nantong and Weifang are the four most important places of kite making.

Cuju

It is an ancient Chinese football game. At first, soldiers played the game as training. In the Tang Dynasty and Song Dynasty, the game was popular. People across the country loved playing it. Women also played the game.

Chuiwan

Chuiwan is a ball game. It’s a little like golf. The game got popular in the Song Dynasty. It was still popular in the Yuan Dynasty and Ming Dynasty. But the game got less popular in the Qing Dynasty.

Go

Go, or Weiqi, is a game for two players. It has a history of over 4,000 years and is still popular nowadays. People in ancient times thought it was a game for gentlemen.

There are not many nations that can say their national dish has become international.     1     Both are famous all over the world, and both have made the history of Italian food. People have been eating pizza, in one form or another, for centuries. They eat it everywhere — at home, in restaurants, or on street comers.

The word “pizza” came from the Latin word “pinsa” meaning flatbread. Long ago, pieces of flatbread, topped with mushrooms and herbs (香料), were a simple and tasty meal. They were mostly for those who didn’t have enough money to buy plates, or who were on the go. In the 18th century, Naples, in southern Italy, had become one of the largest cities in Europe, and it was growing fast. Lots of city people were poor and they were always rushing around to look for work.     2     Pizzas were cut to meet the customers’needs. They were inexpensive, used easy-to-find ingredients (原料), and could be made with plenty of flavor.

It was in America that pizza found its second home.     3     Soon, pizza spread across the country with the rapid development of the city. It was increasingly considered as a fast, funny food. People might like New York-style thin pizza, or Chicago deep-dish thick pizza. Some want extra cheese on their pizzas while others only like vegetables. The secret is, almost everyone likes pizzas.

For a lot of people in western countries, when they cannot decide what to eat, they order pizzas.

Wuhan is a city with both an ancient history     1     a thriving(繁华的) present. Historic relics tell the city’s long history dating     2     3,500 years. In the period of PreQin (770 B.C.--221 B.C),it     3     the land of the State of Chu and the cradle(发源地)

Starting here,    4     followed the great Yangtze River of the brilliant Chu Civilization. and lake network to expand businesses throughout the entire country. In the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911)， Hankou became one of the four best-known towns in the country. For centuries, Wuhan has been the center of trade and transportation in     5     China. Today it is     6     important center in central China and a feature of Yangtze River cruises(航行) for sightseers and businessmen     7     from Sichuan to Shanghai or Hong Kong.

The uprising voice of the Revolution of 1911 was     8     here firstly. The revolution aimed to overthrow the Qing Dynasty (1636-1912) and establish the Republican     9     government, is one of the     10     events in modern China.

6 . TV was one of the greatest inventions in the 20th century. Nowadays, nearly every house has at least one TV set.

Television came into being based on the inventions and discoveries of many scientists. On April 7, 1927, the first public television programme was broadcast in the USA. The signals were received on a very small screen. It was only about the size of a business card. The pictures were reddish (微红色的) and not clear.

In the 1930s, bigger screens appeared with black-and-white pictures. However, a snowy picture was the best many TV viewers could hope for. Often, they could only get one station, and only when the weather conditions were good.

When World War II(1939~1945) began, the development of TV stopped. There were a very small number of TV sets in the hands of the public. By 1945, there were fewer than 7,000 working TV sets in the USA. A TV set cost about half the price of a car at that time.

The time after World War II is considered one of the golden periods of television. Families saved money during the war years, and wanted to buy a lot of things after the war. TV sets were soon put onto the “must-have” list.1950~1959 was an exciting period for television. Colour television and remote (遥控的) controls came out during this time. By 1955, the cost of TV sets came down a lot. Instead of being equal to half the price of a car, they were now just equal to the cost of a new set of tyres (轮胎). This marked the beginning of the booming age of TV.

8 . When it comes to the history of snow skiing, there is the early history and the modern history. The modern history is tied to the Scandinavian countries. Scandinavian farmers and hunters used skis regularly during the Middle Ages. By the 17th century, the Swedish Amy was competing (竞争) on skis and using them for battle purposes as well.

The history of skiing is complicated (复杂的), and there’s no telling no how many people had their hands in the development of skis over the years. Interestingly enough, skis were used in the Sierra Nevada Mountains during the gold rush, and downhill races were organized by mining camps. By the late 1800s, people all over the world were experimenting with skis and using them for all kinds of purposes.

In 1888, for example, a Norwegian man named Frigidity Nansen crossed Greenland on skis. Nansen kept a journal of this trip, and when this journal was published in 1890, it brought great interest in skiing in both Europe and the United States. This is one of the most important moments in the history of snow skiing.

The history of skiing sees the activity, or sport if you prefer, really taking off around the tur of the 20th century. People started taking on all kinds of skiing challenges in the late 1800s and early 1900s, and the technology continued to get better. The first package ski vacations were offered in and around 1903.

The Winter Olympics only helped the sport become popular. In 1932, both ski jumping and cross-country skiing were events that were featured in the Winter Olympics at Lake Placid. After first featuring as a demonstration (演示) sport a the 1988 Calgary Games, freestyle skiing was introduced to the Winter Olympic programme in 1992. There were 13 events in freestyle skiing at Beijing 2022.